scythe

I'm hoping for a car that drives itself when I'm too doddery to drive! <lights blue touch paper

Hi SH20, The little leds you can see emit invisible infrared. In the dark you can see a tiny amount of faint red light from them. There are cameras there too that track the reflection from your eyes. From this, the car knows where you're looking. Look away for too long and the car apparently starts braking if it thinks there is a problem. I've not had the nerve to try this out though! Enjoy the car. : o )

ha ha - my eldest is 6 so i have some catching up to do some catching up? Im 17! Hi Omar. Thing is, though, you've got a much snappier CT200 - what I'm suggesting is that it's the LS that's the grandadmobile. : o )

But also...... be aware that the remote works in the back, but not in the front of the car. : o )

Yes, on my 460, on the audio page (maybe page 2) there is a button that lowers the screen - and that can be used to make it come up again. Push the audio button to the right of the screen, and, from memory, it's there somewhere near the top. I'd go out and check but it's the middle of the night and there are badgers around <wg> There is no manual release. I believe that if you manage to pull it down then it is broken. : o (

I suspect that most of the people on here have someone who knows them as grandad. I certainly do! : o )

Yes, a delay is normal. The car doesn't blow air on you until the ac has time to cool itself down (ie it won't blow warm or hot air already in the car/system) - which takes a moment. Driving off quickly increases the engine revs and you get cold air a bit quicker. If you're desperate and have the proper key fob thing in your pocket, as you walk up to the car push and hold the unlock button. All windows and the sunroof will open, so you get ten seconds of convective cooling before you get into the car! Then shut them all when the engine has started and the cold air starts coming through. : o )

Picture attached

Take out the metal key (by sliding the little button) - I can see from your photo that you've done that already. Turn the key so the buttons are underneath, and the lexus L is upside down. Use your thumb to slide the piece with the L away from you. If you're still stuck I'll post a photo. Incidentally, if you're out and about and the battery fails, the key can still be used to start your engine. Use the metal key to get into the car - this is intentionally a bit hard, and the lock is made of 'sticky' metal to make it hard to tamper with the lock. Then hold your key with the L pointing away from you, use it to touch the start button, and push the button. : o )

In my 2007 460 the parking sensors don't sound above a certain speed. However, the car does like a bit of a beep. Beep beep means that you're using the LKA, and it's lost the edges of the road, so it's stopped helping to steer. On the display, the sides of the road go hollow. This happens at road junctions, or just where the white-lining is poor, or when the road surface is obscured. When it starts helping again you can often feel the gentlest of tugs on the steering wheel. About 5 or 6 beeps means it thinks you've crossed a carriageway line, accompanied by nudging on the steering wheel. The cruise control beeps when it needs help. 4 beeps and orange on the display means it's lost the car in front - it knows it's still there but doesn't understand what's going on, such as at a roundabout. (This doesn't happen when a car is faster than you and just disappears that way) The car starts to slow down, as well - no throttle, and I think it uses a bit of engine braking as well. There is also a yellow flash with some more urgent beeping if it thinks it needs some help with braking - it's only allowed to do about 30% braking, and if the car in front is decelerating more rapidly it lets you know. Be careful, because as soon as you touch the brake pedal it gives control back to you - you need to do the braking. It does have some other instances of normal beeping, such as if you're not looking where you're going, when it might choose to give the brakes a nudge (this hasn't happened to me in seven years), or when you don't make any steering movements at all yourself (ie take your hands off the wheel, which I don't do!) It also has a couple of more intense responses, if it thinks there's a chance of collision, but it's not just beeping it does then! Once you know what the car is communicating to you the beeps are a bit more intrusive than they need to be, but I'd not be without them now. Enjoy!

Well, not much to go on really. <wg> But, to anyone looking, click on the photo Carl has put on, and you'll be taken to his Flickr photos. I genuinely enjoyed looking through them - some good stuff there! : o )

Well, no one seems to have noticed that this is already a UK registered car. Northern Ireland is part of the UK - it's not like it's some sort of foreign place. The Republic of Ireland is a separate UK country, and there are issues with moving cars to and from there, but not from Northern Ireland. So the questions for me would be, when did the car move from south to north, and was this properly done. To answer my own question, the HPI check that he shows says it was registered in the UK on 30.1.2014. Also, is the car what it says it is? I'd be very keen to check the Vin numbers at the front and back of the car, and see what they matched up with. There is a VIN number on his hpi check, but I'd still want to do one of my own. The problem is that you don't know the car's history in Ireland. Where is its service record? Has it been crashed? Be aware that the spec an Irish LS is likely to be different - it's certainly not got the full SE-L equipment but has the SE-L's five spoke wheels. And why are the engine covers so dirty and marked? Take care!

For what it's worth!

Yep, June! Just tried to upload a photo, but it's too hard. : o (

Hiya, this is from 4 Jan 2009 - is this about the right sort of age that you're looking at? Be careful about the Irish Presidential version, it's specification wasn't quite the same, from memory, as any of the UK ones. : o ) (By the way, I love Co.Galway. It's my favourite!) LS600 BROCHURE.pdf

Yes, I leave mine on all the time too. The temperature it refuses to come on below is about 7 degrees, I think, rather than zero. It's to stop condensation freezing inside the condenser, and causing mischief. Though I had an early Volvo with air conditioning, that, if you fiddled with the controls in the right way could be made to blow a load of 'snow' into the car on a humid day. Gave the kids a laugh! <wg>

First thing, don't panic. The refrigerant gas used these days is no long a CFC - those were the gases that remove ozone from the upper atmosphere. I've had issues with main dealers (Volvo, not Lexus) in the past with a leaking air conditioning system. They concluded that because they could hear bubbling noises from the evaporator (which is normal) then there must be leaking going on. No check with ultraviolet. I knew they were wrong, and took it to a specialist, who checked with ultraviolet, and sorted out the real leak very quickly, including vacuuming the system before refilling. There is some lubricant in with the refrigerant. This is absorbed by the O rings in the system, and this keeps the joints tight. That's why, even if you don't use air con in the winter, five minutes use every month is a good thing. Incidentally, using air con in the winter dries out the inside of your car, and keeps it that way. I recommend it. : o ) Good luck.

Too much loafing about in luxury cars? Park further away in Car parks! Hahahahahaha!

The change in width came suddenly between 430 and 460, I think - but only by just under two inches. I wish that my (personal) width had increased by no more than that in the last twenty years. < g >

Here's the lookup tool: http://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/your-lexus/#/RecallInformation. It is accurate for my car - ie, I still need the petrol pipe recall doing, but not the valve springs. As far as Cornish roads go, they aren't too bad in an LS. My 02 LS430 was a very manouvreable car, that could readily be turned, parked and squeezed into spaces, but they increased the distance between front and back wheels on the 460 (and its not the longer cars I'm talking about here), resulting in something that needs a bit more care with the back wheels, and a wider space to spin round in. You do quickly learn to feel where the mirror-folder button is when you drive on narrower roads! : o )

The valve spring recall will almost certainly have been done. If it hasn't then they'll do it for you for free. However, there's now a fuel pipe recall. This is a shorter job, but still takes about 3 hours. This, again, will be carried out free by a Lexus dealer. If you ring them then they'll sort it out for you, but they are probably hoping to stretch it out til your next service. I'm glad that you're pleased with the car. I've had one for six years now, the longest I've ever owned a car, and I have a strong feeling that there will never be another car built that I enjoy driving and using so much. : o )